T5HO lighting output

[hangyong]

Hi Alll, I am new to planted tanks.

I have read through threads saying that we should have 3W/gallon of light for high light tanks/high light requirement plants.

And then I see that there are 54W T5HO tubes, etc.

I believe this 54W is the consumption of the tube, and not the output wattage, right? Please do correct me if I am wrong.

And then the light intensity of 6000k, 10000k. Now, 10000k is much brighter than 6000k, right?

So if 6000k light at 54W, and 10000k light at 54W, its producing a different light intensity, but consuming the same amount of power.

And if that is the case, how do we ensure that the amount of light we are providing to the tank is actually 3W/gallon or not?

[Mizu World]

Using your illustrated points as an eg:

a 4-tube 54W light set will have 216W in total. You can apply this using the wpg rule.

The K refers to the kelvin and the warmness of the light. 10000K is nothing more intense compared to a 6000K tube of the same brand. It's just the way your eyes see the warmness or coolness of the light.

It has nothing to do with intensity (lumens). Usually it is a secondary concern when getting a light set as there is no way for you to inteprete how intense your light tubes are by just using your eyes.